No. This is a complete falsehood, repeatedly echoed by politicians in parliament and beyond. The claim stems from a misinterpretation of the medical term ‘marasmus,’ which appears on many infant death certificates. Marasmus is a form of malnutrition caused by the body’s inability to absorb sufficient nutrients, not deliberate starvation. If a doctor believed an infant had died of starvation, they would explicitly record ‘death due to starvation’ on the certificate.
Marasmus was a common cause of death in maternity hospitals across Ireland. If it were truly an indication of starvation, why was no commission of investigation launched to examine potential cases of murder in these institutions? The answer is simple: marasmus was not starvation. Yet, troublingly, no politician has acknowledged this mistake or issued an apology. On this issue, the commission itself concurred, relying on the advice of a paediatrician.
